


FNAF Shirts and Scavenger Hunts

by Aether_Theriwen



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dean and Castiel has a daughter, Five Nights at Freddy's - Freeform, M/M, Museum Discovery Day, Paleontologists, Scavenger Hunts, volunteering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 21:00:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,851
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12566084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aether_Theriwen/pseuds/Aether_Theriwen
Summary: In which Ivy volunteers for a paleontology museum and meets a dad with his daughter.





	FNAF Shirts and Scavenger Hunts

There was an obnoxiously loud noise somewhere near her; she could hear her roommate groaning for her to “Turn it off, damn it”. Ivy was greeted blearily at the off-white ceiling of her shared room with her roommate. The alarm clock that she had set the night before was blaring out the bland marimba tone. Ivy mockingly imitated to the tone for several times until her roommate called from the other side of the room, angrier this time, that “If you don’t turn it off this instant, I will help you do just that or so God help me”.  
Ivy sprung out of bed in an instant when she saw the time staring back at her in large bolded text. “Why is it 11:50 already?” she said, as accusingly as she could while staring at the fluffy glop made out of pillows and blankets that is her roommate.  
“I dunno,” came the muffled reply, “why did you expect us to ever wake up early for an event?”  
Ivy didn’t respond, instead grabbing for her sanitary bag and rushing into the bathroom. For a bathroom shared by 6 other housemates, it was blissfully empty for Ivy to speed through her morning routine, which was finished in 7 and a half minutes. Ivy looked at the time she spent and whistled out her approval before scampering back to her room (with style) to grab her water bottle and keys before dashing to the museum.  
She had promised Gabe that she would be there to volunteer for Fossil Day, and she sure as heck wasn’t about to miss it. She stopped halfway to grab her usual at Liz’s burger joint and wolfing the contents down before resuming her trip.  
Luckily, she arrived at the front steps of the museum with 15 minutes to spare. Gingerly, she tried opening the front metal doors. It creaked open, giving way to a dark void that is the insides of the museum. Ivy could hear Ms. Beckman and Joan talking in the office, so she stumbled through the museum until she could see the infinitesimal of light peeking from the crack of the office door.  
Knocking three times, she waited as there was approaching footsteps followed by a familiar and friendly face. Ms. Beckman was in her late forties; her face not yet shriveled, but not smooth either. The corners of her eyes were outlined by deep crows’ feet and her mouth was bracketed in with laugh lines, being the playful person she is. Her red-framed glasses were daintily rested on her eagle nose, accentuating the sparkle in her eyes even more.  
“Ivy!” she exclaimed, clearly not expecting anyone to show up as early. “Punctual as usual.”  
Ms. Beckman sidestepped to let Ivy pass, in the same time to reveal a barely-smiling Joan. Ivy had feared Joan despised her at first, because what’s not to hate if you were determined you didn’t like someone? But Joan just didn’t smile as wide as everyone else would; you would have to earn the small smirk that plays on the corner of her mouth, or the amusement dancing in her eyes. Both women clearly were relieved that someone had come early to help them set up.  
“Where’s Gabe?” Ivy wondered aloud when her eyes swept across the room and found no traces of the collections manager.  
Joan answered. “He’s downstairs. You might want to tell him you’re here and help him carry the fossils up for the Fossil Touch Table?”  
Ivy nodded, trying to look as unconfused and professional as possible. She had been in this museum before—God knows she loves fossils—but she has no idea what the plan for the setup would be. They’re off to a great start.

***

Setting up for the entire thing was a giant blur of meeting volunteers who actually knew what they were doing, helping Gabe carry large fossils up to the ground floor for the Fossil Touch Table, and helping Ms. Beckman add clips to the newly made name cards (which were still comfortably warm and fresh from the printer).  
Then she was assigned to the scavenger hunt table, the table nearest to the door and the kiosk. Ivy never really minded about kids, in fact, she actually prided herself on her great kids-skills. “Remember to remind them that after they’re done they need to bring back the pencil—” Ms. Beckman points at the box of sharp pencils, “—and the clipboard—” points at the box of clipboards, “okay?”  
Ivy nodded her head fiercely, and Ms. Beckman continued, “Also, tell the kids that after they finish, they could go to Izzy at the kiosk to get a plastic dinosaur.”  
Ivy knew Izzy; the two girls had met during one of the many events the museum hosts. Izzy was a student of the Advanced Studies Paleontology course, and Ivy would be lying if she said she wouldn’t want to take that course in the future. Ivy nodded again and tried to smile reassuringly to the elder woman. Ms. Beckman returned the smile before quickly walking away towards the Fossil Touch Table where Chelsea was struggling with the sign that refused to stay upright.  
Ivy fiddled with the dark blue tablecloth of the table before casting a glance to what was on it and realizing until this point, she didn’t actually know what was on the table she was in charge of. So there were the two boxes, one bigger, full of neatly stacked clipboards, another one much smaller but broader, half-filled with sharpened pencils. And then there were some white boxes, in them neatly placed different types of scavenger hunts, some were riddles (which Ivy presumed to be for the bigger kids) and some were just ticking the box next to the fossil when you found it in the museum (these were for the smaller kids). She was also surprised to see two or three stacks of scavenger hunts in Spanish, and what Gabe said about them going multilingual suddenly made sense.  
Ivy looked at her watch, six minutes until the museum doors open. There were more volunteers now, Izzy was talking to her boyfriend who was dressed in a neon orange shirt that said “Volunteer” on the back.  
Three minutes. She’s still not here yet. When her roommate said she’s going to be late for this, Ivy didn’t take her seriously. Where is she?  
Fifty-eight seconds. Fifty-seven, fifty-six…  
The wooden doors creaked when they were pushed open by Izzy, letting in a steady flow of people. Ivy couldn’t help but look at the eager faces of the kids standing beside their parents. She couldn’t blame them, if she had a chance to visit a huge paleontology museum like this as a child, she would’ve bolted straight through the door, never mind the tickets.  
Ivy had found her heart beating soundly in her chest when the first group of kids with their mother approached. Ivy hurriedly stood up and smiled at them, hoping it didn’t looked forced, “Welcome to the museum! Would you like to choose a scavenger hunt?”  
The kids looked at Ivy in a uniform manner and chirped “Yah!” loudly. The mother, however seemed unimpressed.  
Ivy, though slightly intimidated by the woman’s expression, gave her attention to the kids. “Would you like to pick one of the scavenger hunt sheets?”  
The kids crowded the table, hands hovering above the stacks of paper indecisively. Though it took a while, they eventually stood beaming at Ivy, waving the sheets that they’ve chosen in the air, “Miss, miss! Is this okay?”  
“Absolutely!” Ivy smiled at them, feeling the tension bleeding out of her, “Here, let me get you clipboards and pencils.” And she did just that.  
The moment the kids got handed both objects, they sped away almost instantly in a cloud of laughter and footsteps, with the mother following at their heels without paying Ivy more attention, and Ivy was strangely cool with it.  
“Don’t forget to give the clipboards and pencils back!” Ivy called after them, “You also get a plastic dinosaur if you exchange your finished sheet with Izzy at the kiosk!”  
The affirming reply was very distant, and Ivy almost didn’t catch it. But it made Ivy smile, nonetheless.

***

Time passed quickly, and many kids followed the three that was first to visit Ivy. Ivy had started to feel that she was in her element now, her smile was coming much more naturally now, and her explanation on what to do was going smoother than before, too. It was a while since Ivy had checked her watch, but she knew she was about one and a half hour into the event, and she had another one and a half hour to go.  
Just as she sent another group of kids followed by their parents (much more enthusiastic and warmer too, though anyone was nicer than that lady), she spotted from her peripheral view that there was a girl by her table, and instead of tapping her on the shoulder, she stood there, silently waiting for her attention.  
Ivy turned in her seat, taking in the peculiar girl. The girl had dark caramel hair that framed her chubby pale cheeks. She was about seven years old, judging by her tubby form. Ivy’s eyes couldn’t help but stare down at the girl’s t-shirt, where Freddy the bear was staring straight at her with a feral grin on his animatronic face. The white and bolded words “Five Nights at Freddy’s” looped around the bear, standing out due to the pale blue background of the shirt.  
“You like Five Nights at Freddy’s?” The question slipped right out of Ivy’s lips.  
The girl nods vigorously, “It’s the best! I love all the games from the series! Are you a fan?”  
Ivy smiles, “I like the games enough, but they’re a bit creepy for me though. You must be really brave playing it.”  
The girl grins at Ivy, flashing her rounded and white teeth. “I mainly watch YouTube videos, Dad wouldn’t let me play it because he said I’m still too small. I’m Nancy by the way.”  
Ivy raises a hand, Nancy high-fives it enthusiastically. “Could I get a scavenger hunt sheet?”  
“Of course!” Ivy hands the child a clipboard and a pencil, before repeating the well-practiced rules. “Which one would you like?”  
Nancy regards the stacks in front of her, and says hesitantly, “May I take one of each of them?”  
Ivy tries to stifle her laughter, “Sure, why not?”  
Nancy gives her one last toothy grin and runs off into the crowds.  
“She always bugged us to go to a comic con involving Five Nights at Freddy’s.” A voice popped the small bubble made from happiness seeing a cute kid that Ivy had just created around her; she startled.  
In front of her, where Nancy was there a minute ago, stood a man clad in black leather from head to toe. Some of the terror must have shown on her face, however, since the man started flailing a bit, making himself seem younger than he probably is. “I’m sorry! Did I sneak up on you? I totally know how creeped out you could get! Cass…”  
Ivy, despite the initial shock, smiled—hopefully—reassuringly to the man. She supposed the polite route is the safest way to do this. “I’m fine. May I help you?”  
The man tapered off a bit, seeming flustered with one hand in his sandy hair. “I was just saying…uh…how Nancy loves the games you know? She wouldn’t stop talking about the games at the table and would prefer the entire family huddled in front of one computer watching a YouTuber playing the games than playing with her classmates.”  
“That’s nice,” Ivy said, “I didn’t learn about the existence of YouTube until middle school, actually.”  
“May be a good thing,” the man said, “kids these days are like junkies hooked to that thing.”  
Ivy chuckled under her breath. The two fell into a comfortable silence, watching Nancy in the distance writing something onto one of her papers. She’s probably ticking some boxes, Ivy thought.  
Beside her, the man shuffled a little on his feet. Ivy turned to look at him. The man said, a little rushed, “I better get to Nancy then. Where should we look?”  
Ivy was suddenly glad that she had been to this museum multiple times and could memorize the structure of the building. You would need to go to both floors. The ground floor is mainly fossils placed according to their time periods, and the basement varies from trackways to miscellaneous activities that the parents and children could do together; it’s fun, you should check it out.”  
The man smiled at her, oh god, that must be how awkward I was, and went running after his daughter after saying “Will do!”.  
And that’s when Izzy showed up in front of Ivy’s desk, clad in glory that is denim overalls, saying, “Hey, want to catch a break? I haven’t stopped since this event started and God knows I need a breather.”  
Ivy glanced quickly at her watch. Woah, there’s only one hour to go. She shot Izzy a grateful grin, “Thanks, I had no idea how much time passed. Are we going to the office? I heard they had killer snacks.”  
The other girl smirked. “The office it is.”

***

A couple of minutes later, (finding a substitute for your booth isn’t as easy as Ivy had thought it would) the two girls found themselves in the air-conned room with a table of snacks all to themselves.  
For the first five minutes, the girls just reveled in the relative silence of the room, away from the crowds and noises. Not that they didn’t enjoy volunteering, it’s just volunteering for three hours straight could take a toll on anyone.  
“So… I saw you talking to Dean earlier?” Of course, Izzy was the one to break the silence.  
“Who?” Ivy turned a little in her seat to face the girl by her left.  
“You know, Mr. I-won’t-wear-anything-without-the-leather-jacket.”  
“Oh, yes. He didn’t tell me his name. What about him?”  
“Nothing, just weird seeing him interacting with the staff. He usually doesn’t talk to people unless they have similar interests.”  
“Like what?”  
“Like Connor. Dean loves talking to him because of that band they like.” Izzy makes a face, “And Gabe, they talk about the newest paleontology event in town and stuff.”  
Ivy blinked, wasn’t Dean just a normal parent bringing his daughter to the museum for Discovery Day? “I didn’t know he was so into paleontology.”  
Izzy just looks amused now. “He wasn’t all that savvy, until he started dating Mr. Goody-two-shoes, that is.”  
Seeing Ivy’s reaction, or lack thereof, she continued. “So apparently his boyfriend is a paleontologist that majored specifically in ancient trackways and is often active around conventions and meetings in California. I heard Gabe teasing Dean the other day that he only visits the museum so often to learn more about fossils to impress his boyfriend.”  
Ivy nodded slowly, not knowing what to do with this information. “So what about their daughter?”  
Now Izzy had already returned all of her attention back to the container of kettle corn on the table. Not looking back up, she said, “She always gives me the chills,” Ivy frowned a little, but the other girl continued, “not to be mean, but there’s something really peculiar about her. I heard she went through some nasty stuff when she was super young, but Dean adopted her right after that.”  
“Huh,” Ivy mused, not knowing what to say in place of that. The office returned to silence, excluding Ms. Beckman’s intermittent typing in the background.  
After a moment, Izzy stood up carefully, minding not to scrape her chair across the floor. “So anyways, I better get back to work then.”  
Ivy scrambled to follow; she didn’t want to be the slacker that camped out in the office until it was time to wrap up.

***

The rest of the event was uneventful. The people slowly trickled out of the museum doors as time passed by. The boxes that held the clipboards and pencils was slowly filled in as the stacks of scavenger hunts turn into a meager number of sheets. Nancy had returned her clipboard and pencil before running towards the kiosk (with her father in tow) where Izzy is handing out the last of the plastic dinosaurs, clutching her handful of finished scavenger hunts.  
Later, when Ivy and Izzy finished helping to clean up the museum and walked outside the door, they saw a black car that was parked at the foot of the steps. Two people were hugging and talking in low tones while Nancy sat in the back seats with her feet dangling out of the car door. When the couple broke apart, Ivy recognized the silhouette of Dean standing in front of a person; only tufts of black hair was visible above Dean’s shoulders.  
Quietly, Izzy led Ivy back into the museum and out through the back door. The moment wasn’t theirs to witness, and certainly isn’t theirs to break.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is Aether and thank you for reading this! I barely have time to finish this (I can't believe school became this busy so quickly)! This actually was partially based on my experience of a volunteer. :) Until next time!  
> Kudos and comments are encouraged ;)


End file.
